3rd Sgt. Rafael Silva

Despite falling before the greatest myth in jAudo history, Army Sergeant Rafael Silva achieved the bronze medal in the category above 100 kg. From the height of its 2.03 meters, the Brazilian judoka, known as Baby, gave Brazil the fourth Olympic medal of the Rio 2016 Games and secured his second podium in the Olympics. All the achievements were merit of the military athletes of the High Performance Program of the Ministry of Defense.

The Brazilian started his Olympic campaign with two victories for ippon. In the first match, he beat Ramón Pileta of Honduras, and then passed the Russian Renat Saidov in the round of 16. With a waza-ari, Rafael Silva, 29 years old, was defeated in the quarterfinals by Frenchman Teddy Riner, undefeated for six years, current Olympic champion and holder of eight world titles.

With a chance to put the bronze medal on his chest, repeating the London result in 2012, Baby went to repechage. In the match, he faced Uzbek Abdullo Tangriev and won with a yuko.

Source: leafamilitaronline